Adam Pye, 26, was killed at a Bay Area beach in California on Monday after a 10-foot-deep hole he was digging collapsed on him. At least 30 people—including emergency personnel and bystanders—tried to dig him out, but in the end he was buried for 35 minutes. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to the Cal Fire department, "Pye dug a roughly 10-foot-deep hole at Francis State Beach and was standing in it around 5:30pm Monday when the sand started caving in around him." Fire Capt. Jonathan Cox told NBC News, "A lot of people jumped into action, which was both helpful and oppressive." A witness said people were using buckets and their hands to try to help dig.

Cox said he can only point to one similar incident in California in the last 20 years. Earlier this summer, a Virginia man died in the Outer Banks of North Carolina while trying to connect two six-foot-deep holes with a sand tunnel.